Lew Ayres was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in San Diego, California. A college dropout, he was found by a talent scout in the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles and entered Hollywood as a bit player. He was leading man to Greta Garbo in The Kiss (1929), but it was the role of Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) that was his big break. He was profoundly affected by the anti-war message of that film, and when, in 1942, the popular star of Young Dr. Kildare (1938) and subsequent Dr. Kildare films was drafted, he was a conscientious objector. America was outraged, and theaters vowed never to show his films again, but quietly he achieved the Medical Corps status he had requested, serving as a medic under fire in the South Pacific and as a chaplain's aid in New Guinea and the Phillipines. His return to film after the war was undistinguished until Johnny Belinda (1948) - his role as the sympathetic physician treating the deaf-mute Jane Wyman won him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Subsequent movie roles were scarce; an opportunity to play Dr. Kildare in television was aborted when the network refused to honor his request for no cigarette sponsorship. He continued to act, but in the 1970s put his long experience into a project to bring to the west the philosophy of the East - the resulting film, Altars of the World (1976), while not a box-office success, won critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award. Lew Ayres died in Los Angeles, California on December 30, 1996, just two days after his 88th birthday.

Фільмографія

• 1994Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart — Professor Cabel
• MGM: When the Lion Roars
• 1991Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker — actor 'Advise and 'Consent' (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1989Cast the First Stone — Martin
• L.A. Law — Lorimar Henderson
• Outlaws
• 1986Under Siege — John Pace
• Lime Street — Henry Wade Culver
• 1984Don Camillo — Doc
• Finder of Lost Loves — Oliver Hawthorne
• Highway to Heaven
• Команда А — Bernie Greene
• Fame
• Hotel — Nelson O'Neil
• Кеґні та Лейсі
• 1981Of Mice and Men — Candy
• Simon & Simon
• 1980Reunion — Bob Hollander
• Магнум, приватний детектив — Sidney Dollinger
• Knots Landing — Andrew Douglas
• 1979Letters from Frank — Dan Miller
• Trapper John, M.D.
• Доля Салему — Jason Burke
• 1978Battlestar Galactica — President Adar
• Battlestar Galactica — President Adar
• Flying High — Wilbur Dodson
• 1978Suddenly, Love — Mr. Graham
• 1978The Story of Noah — Noah
• 1978Омен 2: Демієн — Bill Atherton
• 1977End of the World — Com. Joseph Beckerman
• The Fantastic Journey — Rayat
• The Love Boat — Carl Hooper
• 1976Altars of the World — Director
• 1976Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident — Allen Dulles
• Quincy, M.E.
• 1976That's Entertainment, Part II — (archive footage)
• Біонічна жінка
• Диво-жінка — Dr. Kenneth Wilson
• 1974Heatwave! — Dr. Grayson
• Little House on the Prairie
• 1974The Questor Tapes — Vaslovik
• Hawkins — Gus Bitterman
• The Magician — Max Braden
• 1973The Stranger — Prof. Dylan MacAuley
• 1973Битва за планету мавп — Mandemus
• Kung Fu — Beaumont
• 1972She Waits — Dr. Sam Carpenter
• 1972The Biscuit Eater — Mr. Ames
• 1972The Man — Noah Calvin
• The Streets of San Francisco
• 1971Earth II — President Charles Carter Durant
• McMillan & Wife
• Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
• Коломбо — Howard Nicholson
• San Francisco International Airport
• The Interns
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• Hawaii Five-O — The Governor, Dr. Elias Haig, Comm. Reginald Blackwell
• 1969Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities — Dr. Andrew Swanson
• 1968Cocoon — The Governor
• Here Come the Brides
• ABC Stage 67 — Arthur
• The Big Valley — Sheriff Roy Kingston, Jason Fleet
• The F.B.I. — Marshall Winslow
• Slattery's People
• 1964The Carpetbaggers — Mac McAllister
• Kraft Suspense Theatre — Dr. Thomas Clay
• 1963The Upper Chamber
• 1962Advise & Consent — The Vice President
• Saints and Sinners
• The Virginian — Judge John Markham
• Ben Casey
• Bus Stop
• My Three Sons
• Route 66
• The Barbara Stanwyck Show — Dr. Paul Harris
• Laramie
• The DuPont Show with June Allyson — Howard Moon
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Clint Howard, Jud Lester, Jesse Martin
• 1956One Against Many — Dr. John Mohler
• 1956The Family Nobody Wanted — Carl Doss
• Screen Director's Playhouse — Dr. John Mohler
• Дим зі ствола — Jonathan Cole
• Climax! — Bob Kilgore
• 1953Donovan's Brain — Dr. Patrick J. Cory
• 1953No Escape — John Howard Tracy
• Cavalcade of America — Matt Needham
• Omnibus
• 1951New Mexico — Captain Hunt
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
• 1950The Capture — Lin Vanner / Lindley Brown
• The Ken Murray Show
• 1948Johnny Belinda — Robert Richardson
• 1947The Unfaithful — Larry Hannaford
• 1947The Way of Peace — Narrator (voice)
• 1946The Dark Mirror — Scott Elliott
• 1942Dr. Kildare's Victory — Dr. James Kildare
• 1942Fingers at the Window — Oliver Duffy
• 1941Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day — Dr. James Kildare
• 1941Maisie Was a Lady — Bob Rawlston
• 1941The People Vs. Dr. Kildare — Dr. James Kildare
• 1940Dr. Kildare Goes Home — Dr. James Kildare
• 1940Dr. Kildare's Crisis — Dr. James Kildare
• 1940Dr. Kildare's Strange Case — James Kildare
• 1940The Golden Fleecing — Henry Twinkle
• 1939Broadway Serenade — James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
• 1939Calling Dr. Kildare — Dr. James Kildare
• 1939Remember? — Sky Ames
• 1939The Ice Follies of 1939 — Eddie Burgess
• 1939The Secret of Dr. Kildare — James Kildare
• 1939These Glamour Girls — Philip S. Griswold III
• 1938Holiday — Ned Seton
• 1938King of the Newsboys — Jerry Flynn
• 1938Rich Man, Poor Girl — Henry Thayer
• 1938Scandal Street — Joe McKnight
• 1938Spring Madness — Sam Thatcher
• 1938Young Dr. Kildare — Dr. James Kildare
• 1937Hold 'Em Navy — Tommy Graham
• 1937The Crime Nobody Saw — Nick Milburn
• 1937The Last Train from Madrid — Bill Dexter
• 1936Hearts in Bondage — Director
• 1936Lady Be Careful — Chester aka Dynamite
• 1936Murder with Pictures — Kent Murdock
• 1936Panic on the Air — Jerry
• 1936Shakedown — Bob Sanderson
• 1936The Leathernecks Have Landed — Woodruff 'Woody' Davis
• 1935Silk Hat Kid — Eddie Howard
• 1935Spring Tonic — Caleb Enix
• 1935The Lottery Lover — Cadet Frank Harrington
• 1934Cross Country Cruise — Norman Winthrop
• 1934Let’s Be Ritzy — Jimmy Sterling
• 1934Servants' Entrance — Erik Landstrom
• 1934She Learned About Sailors — Larry Wilson
• 1933Don't Bet on Love — Bill McCaffrey
• 1933My Weakness — Ronnie Gregory
• 1933State Fair — Pat Gilbert
• 1932Night World — Michael Rand
• 1932Okay, America! — Larry Wayne
• 1932The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood — Lew Ayres
• 1932The Impatient Maiden — Dr. Myron Brown
• 1931Heaven on Earth — States
• 1931Iron Man — Kid Mason
• 1931Many a Slip — Jerry Brooks
• 1931The Spirit of Notre Dame — Edward Aloysius "Bucky" O'Brian
• 1931Up for Murder — Robert Marshall
• 1930Common Clay — Hugh Fullerton
• 1930East Is West — Billy Benson
• 1930The Doorway to Hell — Louie Ricarno
• 1930На західному фронті без змін — Paul Bäumer
• 1929Big News — Copyboy (uncredited)
• 1929The Kiss — Pierre
• 1929The Sophomore — Sophomore Fraternity Brother (uncredited)

Ток-шоу, премії та інші появи (7)

• 2004Checking Out: Grand Hotel — Self (archive footage)
• 1984Bruised Celluloid — Himself
• MGM Parade — self
• 1946Blow-Ups of 1946 — Self
• 1940A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound — Self
• 1940Hollywood: Style Center of the World — Self
• 1939From the Ends of the Earth — Self